Cleveland Metroparks Zoo today announced that more than 183,000 guests experienced this summer’s Asian Lantern Festival presented by Cleveland Clinic Children’s, shattering the previous national record of 150,000 set by Cleveland Metroparks Zoo in 2018. In year two, the event featured more than 40 all new large scale lantern displays, additional live performances on the Fifth Third Bank stage and new interactive zones sponsored by the Illuminating Company.

The event began in June and was originally slated to run for six weeks but large attendance led to two festival extensions for a total of three extra weeks with many sold out dates.

“We want to thank the community for its overwhelming support of Asian Lantern Festival as well as our partners that helped make the event possible,” said Kelly Manderfield, Cleveland Metroparks Chief Marketing Officer. “The event brought visitors from all over and nearly half of festival guests were experiencing our Zoo for the first time this year.”

In addition to the brilliant lanterns, visitors to the festival were able to enjoy authentic Asian cuisine, a craft market and live acrobatic performances each night.